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Do You Monitor Your Kids' Social Media Accounts?

A
lot of parents are reluctant to spy on their kids. However, one Utah
mom is grateful that she did. She was taking a look at her son's
Facebook page and saw that someone had posted several deadly threats. The words were frightening enough to send her straight to the police.

"There
were very specific threats that they were going to go to the high
school and shoot her son," a police detective said. I can only imagine
the panic she experienced reading those words. Bullying and name calling
is one thing, but to think that someone might want to kill your child
is just horrific.

She discovered the nasty messages a week ago on Facebook and
Instagram from two teen boys who reportedly had it out for her son. Some
of the photographs even showed a hand holding a gun and the hand had gang-affiliated signs on it. The entire scenario is chill-inducing.

Her first call was to the school resource officer to tell them about
the threats, then the police. Fortunately, cops found the boys, who did
not attend the high school. They also found a gun, loaded clip,
marijuana, and lots of cash in their car. Cops say that gang violence in
Salt Lake City is at an all-time high.

There is no telling what they would have done if this mom hadn't been so proactive.
And her poor son must have been terrified after becoming the target of
those thugs. This is one violation of privacy I hope he is thankful for.

Sneakily yes, but she never knew about it. I would let her on my laptop and then say "Oh, you forgot to do (insert chore) here" then I would look around while she was gone. My daughter was extremely secretive and could get very angry (not violent) when she thought her privacy was being violated. She thought we were spying on her secretly so she changed her password and refused to use social media at our house instead using it at school and sneaking to the library during her lunch hour/after school to use it. My younger kids will have different rules for sure.

I check their Facebook and Instagram accounts (I have login IDs and passwords). They have Tubmblr blogs which I look at regularly but don't log into...they pretty much just re-post other people's pics. I used to randomly check my 17 year old's text messages but I stopped doing that shortly after she turned 17 because I suddenly felt like I was snooping on an adult, LOL. And I also realized she was deleting most of her text conversations before I saw them. But I still check Facebook and Instagram to make sure everything is cool, and I look at the phone records and question them if I see an unfamiliar number. I haven't started checking my 14 YO's text messages yet...she has her phone password protected so I will have to outright ask her for her password and she will probably be annoyed because she really guards her privacy. But all the snooping has paid off in one way--the 14 YO now tells me right away if something strange or offensive is going on with her Instagram (social media of choice), so that I don't find it and have to come and ask her about it.

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